MSFS Day 10: Finishing the Face, Perspectives of Piraino, and Our Journey to Milazzo

Notes from the Field School: August 1st, 2016

Students arrived early to class so that they could continue to work on the facial reconstruction from yesterday. The morning's work focused on the addition of a nose, ears, and general smoothing of the clay. A bit of texturing was also added for the final touches.

Deb helps Mallory with the nose.

Jordan adds ears with Deb's help.

Mari and Elisa smooth out the clay face before the big reveal.

When the facial reconstruction was complete, Deb revealed photos of how the man whose skull served as the model for the plastic skull that we used looked in life. The students felt a collective sense of achievement in seeing how similar the facial features they reconstructed together were with the features of the individual in life. They were rightfully proud of their work on their first facial reconstruction.

Deb shows the students what the individual actually looked like in life.

A closeup of the reconstructed face and in-life photos of the individual whose skull was used for the class's work.

A proud class and their first facial reconstruction together.

Phases of facial reconstruction.

The class discusses their trip to Piraino and Dario describes
the intersection of Sicilian culture and religion.

Afterward, Karl led a discussion with the students about their perspectives on the trip to Piraino a few days ago. Together, we discussed the significance of the mummies and artifacts seen on our field trip. Students shared both their feelings about their experiences in Piraino and their observations from professional perspectives. They discussed the intersection of culture and scientific investigations of archaeological materials. This brought back our discussions of ethics and stakeholders from the first day of the school and led to new facets of understanding these issues in the context of impacts on an actual community. We had a lively conversation about these aspects of the trip as the students asked important questions and commented on things from their individual viewpoints. Students also discussed what they learned from Marcello about the history and culture of the mother church. This transitioned into a conversation about religion and how the cultural perceptions of religion affected both the life and death of individuals for hundreds of years. Dario explained to the students how Sicilians have very close associations with the dead because the bodies remain as representations for the soul. These are culturally important for the living who pray for the souls of the dead and ask them for divine intervention into their everyday lives. For example, one may ask a deceased loved one to help them win the lottery or when they will find love and get married. People also pray for the souls of the dead to help them avoid the fires and suffering of purgatory as the dead are cleansed in the afterlife for their final ascension into heaven.

Lunch was another new and delicious pasta with bacon and tomatoes. We were also served bread, a new-to-us type of salami, a prosciutto and provolone pizza on a puff pastry crust, and a lentil soup with carrots. The conversation over lunch consisted of debating over where one finds the best pizza in the world, the best and worst foods in different countries, and the recovery of a song that we danced to at the eggplant festival a few nights ago.

In the afternoon, we prepared for our trip to Milazzo. We left around 4pm to go see several beautiful churches built during different time periods. We walked around the city and up many steps to see these buildings adorned with sculptures, statues, and frescoes so breathtaking that words cannot describe them properly and pictures do not do them justice.

   

 

        

The Church of Carmine

The Church of St. Maria Maggiore

The body of the Blessed Candida within the Church of St. Francis of Paola

The tiny Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria 

We also saw a Byzantine burial site in the city that was covered by a glass structure to preserve the burial ground. Later, we saw a fenced-in prehistoric occupation dating to the Neolithic. We then walked passed a huge castle on our way to a small museum with interesting fossils and maritime artifacts.

Glass-encased Byzantine burials in the middle of the city.

A Neolithic occupation site.

Castle with church in the background.

Some of the many steps taken during our adventure in Milazzo.

The museum with fossils and memories of the sea that we visited.

Later in the day, we went for a swim off of the coast. We spent a few hours letting the waves carry us to the shore and bobbing in the refreshingly cool, clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea as the sun began to set behind us. Just before it disappeared, seemingly consumed beneath the waves themselves, we were able to get a quick class sunset selfie.

Sunset swimming in Milazzo.

After leaving the beach, we walked over to a seaside restaurant for dinner. Padre Paolo, who is in charge of the convent, and Carmelina, our wonderful cook, as well as Carmelina's daughter and her daughter's boyfriend, joined us for dinner. Katia, our Italian teacher, also joined us a few minutes later. We dined upon pizzas with a variety of delicious toppings, risottos, and pastas. We also had a few different types of bruschetta and fried calamari to get us started. Karl called us to attention during the meal to toast to our amazing hosts, visiting researchers, and the success of the school in its first year. Thanks to Katia, he was able to do the first part of the toast completely in Italian!

 Appetizers of classic bruschetta, fried calamari, and a special seafood bruschetta.

 Two kinds of risotto with seafood.

Salmon tomato pizza (left) and sliced beef with veggies pizza (right).

Four cheese pizza (above) and margarita pizza (below).

We rode home after another full day of fun, food, and new experiences. It is exciting to think about what the final days of the school are going to bring for us! Next up, we will journey to Palermo for a look at the amazing catacombs of the Capuchin Church to see a large collection of mummies, including the famous child mummy, Rosalia Lombardo. Stay tuned!

Written by  Dr. Johnica J. Morrow (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

MSFS Day 9: Facial Reconstruction

Notes from the Field School: July 31st, 2016

Deb leads students in a facial reconstruction.

Because yesterday was such a long day, we allowed the students to sleep in a bit before today's scheduled events. The late morning was filled with a lecture from Deb about the different approaches and methods used for facial reconstruction, both of forensic and anthropological interest. She gave students some of the clay used in reconstruction so that they could get a (literal) feel for the materials used in traditional facial reconstruction.

Yummy lunch!

She went on to describe the different methods and held a discussion with the students about the intersection between science and art that exists when doing facial reconstructions. Karl and Dario chimed in from time to time to share their experiences in this area. Deb also showed the students a skull that they would be working on as a group in the afternoon using the clay she had passed around earlier.

Lunch was a delicious pasta in a tangy white sauce with meat and mushrooms. This was accompanied by bread, salami, croquettes that were made of eggplant, and cheese-stuffed, pan-fried meatballs with caramelized onions. As is no surprise to frequent readers, this meal was delicious!

Students were excited about the meatballs.

After lunch, the students began doing the facial reconstruction of the skull with Deb's assistance. Below is the before pictures of the skull that they would be using. The skull came with a story about the life of the individual from which it was modeled. This individual was a male born in Holland in 1921 who died at the age of 83. He was supposedly of royal descent with Dutch, French, and Belgian parentage.

First, they applied the tissue markers to the skull using a non-destructive glue that dissolves in acetone. They carefully cut each of the markers to the appropriate depth, numbered them, and glued them to the skull.

Students cut and apply tissue markers for the facial reconstruction.

Two views of the skull with tissue markers applied.

Sam, Emily, and Erin display their work after applying the tissue markers.

Mari cuts pieces from a
block of clay.

Breane measures the skull for creating the lips.

Students measured cranial features in order to sculpt the lips and the areas around the eyes. Clay was added to the skull and sculpted to fit the tissue depth markers. Over the course of several hours, the student labored to shape the face into something recognizable. Blue marbles were set into cotton pad placed in the orbits of the skull for eyes and clay was shaped around them to hold them into the proper place.


  

Ruth and Erik prepare the eye sockets to
insert the marbles serving as eyes.

Setting the eyes appropriately for the facial reconstruction.

Ruth puts final touches
on the clay around the eyes.

Eyes set into the skull.

Deb helps Ruth and Erik begin to add the clay up to the tissue markers.

Erik and Ruth show their progress on the facial reconstruction.

The eyes, chin, lips, and brow ridges where slowly built and a bit of texturing was added. There is still a bit more to do before our face is finished.

Breane displays her additions to the facial reconstruction.

Caleb works on the brow ridges and adds details to the eyes.

A hearty dinner after a hard day's work.

Tomorrow, students will add a nose, more texturing, and the final touches. The final product is sure to be spectacular and the students already feel a sense of collective accomplishment as each of their contributions has been coming together for will be an exciting final product.

Dinner was comprised of a breaded and lightly fried chicken cutlet, salad, seasoned tomatoes, pickled mushrooms, small, baked pastry boats containing peppers and breadcrumbs, salami, two kinds of bread, and fruit. The meal was delicious, as always, and we again had excellent company with which to dine and fun conversations about the events of the day.

Written by  Dr. Johnica J. Morrow (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)